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Mechanisms of Tinnitus

Here I will attempt to review the most crucial information I have gleaned over the past few weeks of tinnitus discussion via the internet:

1) The Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus Disinhibition Hypothesis (DCND-H):

Both acute and chronic tinnitus subjects (animal and human) display hyperactivity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) and/or inferior colliculus (IC), presumably resulting from a loss of inhibitory function in these structures. This hyperactivity has not been observed, or has been observed only weakly, in the auditory brainstem, and has not subsided following ablation of the cochlear nerve; these observations may indicate that the hyperactivity not only registers but also originates centrally.

In noise-induced tinnitus, disinhibition leading to hyperactivity has been shown to result following cochlear damage, suggesting that it may be a central response to alterations in spontaneous input from the auditory periphery. There is some evidence that hyperactivity arises in respon...

Posted by: Alyscia Yellowman

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